"Apakah polisi militer mengungkapkan alasan penangkapannya?" tanya Mei Feng.
"Tidak, aku sudah bertanya pada mereka, tetapi mereka juga mengaku tidak mengetahui detailnya."
Kerutan di wajah Mei Feng semakin dalam.
"Hanya Jenderal yang bisa mengeluarkan perintah penangkapan kepada polisi militer tanpa memberikan alasan yang jelas, jadi kemungkinan besar Jenderal Gu ada hubungannya dengan ini. Untuk hal seperti ini terjadi tepat sebelum pertemuan, benar-benar waktu yang buruk!" umpat Mei Feng dengan lantang.
Dia kemudian berkata kepada Ironwoman, "Pergilah ke Sersan Yuan dan pastikan tidak terjadi apa-apa padanya selagi aku bicara dengan Jenderal Gu."
"Baik."
Sementara Ironwoman pergi ke penjara militer, Mei Feng berjalan menuju kantor Jenderal Gu. Meskipun Mei Feng bisa menghubungi Jenderal Gu jauh lebih cepat melalui telepon, dia merasa akan lebih efektif jika datang langsung.
Beberapa saat kemudian—
"Apa yang baru saja kau katakan?"
Ironwoman bertanya dengan kerutan dalam di wajahnya.
"Sersan Yuan sudah tidak bersama kami... Dia digiring pergi tepat pada saat kami membawanya ke sini," kata polisi militer yang menangkap Yuan.
"Siapa yang membawanya pergi? Apakah itu Jenderal Gu?"
"Jenderal Gu?" Prajurit militer itu mengulangi dengan nada bingung sebelum menjawab, "Bukan, yang menggiringnya pergi adalah..."
"Apa?!" Ironwoman berseru tidak percaya.
Sementara itu, Mei Feng tiba di kantor Jenderal Gu.
"Jenderal Mei? Akhir-akhir ini kau sering mengunjungi kantorku. Ada apa lagi kali ini?" Jenderal Gu menatapnya dengan ekspresi tidak ramah.
"Kenapa kau mengeluarkan perintah penangkapan untuk Sersan Yuan?" Mei Feng langsung ke pokok masalah.
"Perintah penangkapan? Apa yang kau bicarakan?" Jenderal Gu menjawab dengan wajah yang benar-benar bingung.
"Jangan berpura-pura bodoh. Hanya aku dan kau yang bisa menangkap seseorang tanpa memberikan alasan."
Jenderal Gu menggosok matanya dan menghela napas, "Aku tidak tahu harus berkata apa kecuali bahwa aku tidak ada hubungannya dengan ini. Jika Sersan Yuan ditangkap, itu karena perbuatannya sendiri."
"Kau—!"
Tepat saat Mei Feng membuka mulut untuk berbicara, dia melihat Ironwoman memanggilnya.
"Apa yang terjadi?"
"Ini tentang Sersan Yuan. Dia sudah digiring pergi saat aku sampai di penjara, dan kau tidak akan percaya ini, tetapi menurutku Jenderal Gu tidak ada hubungannya dengan penangkapannya."
"Apa...?" Mei Feng memasang ekspresi tercengang setelah mendengar ini.
Matanya beralih ke Jenderal Gu, dan memang, dia terlihat benar-benar bingung dengan seluruh situasi ini.
"Siapa yang menangkapnya?" tanyanya kemudian.
"Itu adalah..."
"Apa?!" Mei Feng berseru tidak percaya setelah mendengar jawabannya. "Kenapa mereka menangkapnya?!"
"Aku tidak tahu, tetapi ini pertama kalinya hal seperti ini terjadi."
"Baiklah... Aku akan menyusulmu sebentar lagi."
Setelah menutup telepon, Mei Feng mengalihkan perhatiannya kembali ke Jenderal Gu tetapi tidak mengatakan apa pun.
"Sepertinya kau membuat kesalahan, Jenderal Mei," Jenderal Gu berbicara lebih dulu, memecah keheningan.
"Jika aku benar-benar membuat kesalahan, aku akan minta maaf untuk itu. Namun, karena aku belum memiliki semua informasi, aku akan menunggu sampai aku mendapatkannya."
Setelah mengatakan itu, Mei Feng berbalik dan pergi.
Begitu Mei Feng pergi, Jenderal Gu melakukan panggilan sendiri.
"Aku baru menerima kabar bahwa Sersan Yuan ditangkap. Aku ingin semua informasi yang bisa kau temukan tentang ini!"
Sementara itu, di suatu tempat di dalam pangkalan militer, Yuan duduk di dalam ruangan putih kosong yang menyerupai ruang isolasi di bangsal
"Did the military police reveal the reason for his arrest?" Mei Feng asked.
"No, I asked them, but they claim to not know the details, either."
The frown on Mei Feng’s face deepened.
"Only Generals are able to issue arrest orders to the military police without giving a proper reason, so it’s likely that General Gu had something to do with this. For such a thing to happen right before the assembly, what shitty timing!" Mei Feng cursed aloud.
She then said to the Ironwoman, "Go to Sergeant Yuan and ensure nothing happens to him while I go speak with General Gu."
"I understand."
While the Ironwoman went to the military prison, Mei Feng made her way to General Gu’s office. Although Mei Feng could contact General Gu much faster on the phone, she felt it would be more effective to show up in person.
Some time later—
"What did you just say?"
The Ironwoman questioned with a deep frown on her face.
"Sergeant Yuan is no longer with us... He was escorted away literally the moment we took him here," said the military police who arrested Yuan.
"Who took him away? Was it General Gu?"
"General Gu?" The military soldier repeated in a puzzled tone before responding, "No, the one who escorted him away was..."
"What?!" Ironwoman exclaimed in disbelief.
Meanwhile, Mei Feng arrived at General Gu’s office.
"General Mei? You’ve been visiting my office an awful lot recently. What is it this time?" General Gu glared at her with an unwelcoming expression.
"Why did you put an arrest order for Sergeant Yuan?" Mei Feng went straight to the point.
"An arrest order? What are you talking about?" General Gu replied with a genuinely puzzled face.
"Don’t play dumb. Only you and I can arrest someone without giving a reason."
General Gu rubbed his eyes and sighed, "I don’t know what to tell you except that I had nothing to do with it. If Sergeant Yuan was arrested, then it was because of his own doing."
"You—!"
Just as Mei Feng opened her mouth to speak, she noticed the Ironwoman was calling her.
"What happened?"
"It’s Sergeant Yuan. He was escorted away by the time I reached the prison, and you won’t believe this, but I don’t think General Gu had anything to do with his arrest."
"What...?" Mei Feng wore a dumbfounded look on her face after hearing this.
Her eyes glanced at General Gu, and sure enough, he looked genuinely confused by the whole situation.
"Who arrested him?" she then asked.
"That would be..."
"What?!" Mei Feng exclaimed in disbelief after hearing the response. "Why would they arrest him?!"
"I don’t know, but this is the first time anything like this has happened before."
"Alright... I’ll be with you in a moment."
After hanging up, Mei Feng returned her attention to General Gu but said nothing.
"Sounds like you made a mistake, General Mei," General Gu spoke first, breaking the silence.
"If I really made a mistake, I’ll apologize for it. However, since I don’t have all of the information, I’ll wait until I do."
After saying that, Mei Feng turned around and left.
Once Mei Feng left, General Gu made his own call.
"I just received news that Sergeant Yuan was arrested. I want every piece of information you can find on it!"
Meanwhile, somewhere within the military base, Yuan sat inside an empty white room that resembled a seclusion room in a psychiatric ward.
Seated across from him was a group of individuals dressed in white uniforms resembling those worn by scientists.
"So, what is this all about?" Yuan finally asked after several minutes had passed without anyone saying a word.
One of them responded, "Do you really have no idea why you’re here?"
Yuan calmly shook his head.
"Do you even know where you are right now?" another asked.
"Should I?"
After another moment of silence, one of the individuals in white retrieved an Unknown Ore and placed it on the desk before them.
"Do you know what this is?"
"An Unknown Ore?"
"Anything special about it?"
"..."
Yuan fell silent as he stared at the Unknown Ore.
’I see... so this is what it’s about...’ Yuan sighed inwardly as he realized what was happening.
The Unknown Ore sitting before him was obviously one he had personally collected—and completely drained of its energy.
"Well?"
One of the individuals spoke again when Yuan didn’t respond.
Yuan shook his head and said, "It looks like an ordinary Unknown Ore to me."
"It is indeed an Unknown Ore, but there is nothing ordinary about it."
They retrieved another piece of Unknown Ore and placed it beside the first, but there was a clear difference between the two.
Unlike the first, which glistened like a first-rate jewel, the second lacked its usual shimmering appearance and looked like nothing more than an ordinary piece of colorless crystal.
"It may be hard to believe, but these two are actually the same," one of them explained. "Normally, when an Unknown Ore loses all of its energy, it also loses its glistening appearance and ends up looking like this. However, for some reason, this one retained its original appearance despite having no energy left."
"Okay...?" Yuan muttered.
"Why are you telling me this?" he asked.
"Because we’re hoping you can help us solve this phenomenon."
"And what makes you think I have the answer to your question?"
"For starters, this Unknown Ore was collected by you. In fact..."
One of the individuals stood up, walked to the side of the room, retrieved a spatial cube, and emptied its contents onto the floor. In the blink of an eye, thousands of glistening Unknown Ores formed a massive pile.
"All of these were gathered by you. More importantly, out of everyone in the military, you’re the only person who has ever brought back Unknown Ores like these."
"And whatever you say next, please don’t tell us it’s a coincidence, because none of us will believe you."
After those words, the room fell silent once again as Yuan stared quietly at the massive pile of Unknown Ores before him.
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